Tag Archives: Parent Program

Two researchers at the University of Maryland, School of Social Work conducted a study to determine the acceptability and short-term outcomes of the Incredible Years® Parent Program (15- week, preschool basic version) for parents raising preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). This study utilized a pre-post design (with no control group) reported high parent acceptability of the program. Additionally, total stress related to the child was significantly decreased with intervention effect sizes from moderate to large following program completion (Sarah Dababnah & Parish, 2014). See article abstract on our website.

Dababnah, S. (2015). Feasibility of an empirically-based program for parents of preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder The International Journal of Research and Practice.

Dababnah, S., & Parish, S. L. (2014). Incredible Years Program Tailored to Parents of Preschoolers with Autism: Pilot Results Research on Social Work Practice, 10, 1-14.

A second paper was recently published (S. Dababnah, 2015) reporting qualitative data from individual interviews with parents. Parents reported they benefited most from child emotion regulation strategies, play-based child behavior skills, parent stress management, social support and visual resources. Parents interviews suggested they would like to see additional vignettes of children with ASD, identify alternative “sensory” rewards and access to visual resources and they also wanted to add more sessions focused on individualized parent self-care and support.

Dababnah, S. (2015). Feasibility of an empirically-based program for parents of preschoolers with Autism Spectrum Disorder The International Journal of Research and Practice.

It is interesting this study should come out the same year that a new Incredible Years Parent Program for parents of children (ages 2-5) on the Autism Spectrum or with Language Delays was released. This new parent program includes vignettes of parents and children with ASD and language delays, incentives including sensory activities, visual resources, emotional and social coaching methods, pretend play enhancement, ways to promote children’s self-regulation skills and additional family support. The program can be used as a supplement to the basic IY parenting program or offered separately as a 14-week parent program. See below a short overview video for this program!

The Incredible Years® (IY) Series is implemented in a wide range of organizations all over the world. One organization in Pennsylvania, EPIS Center, has just released exciting results from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency funded providers of the implementation of the IY Parent and Child programs from 2013-2014.

Additionally, children in one group received Classroom Dinosaur School– a prevention program delivered to a large group of children, teaching them social and emotional skills, academic skills, problem-solving, etc.

A second child group received Small Group Dinosaur School – a treatment program for children with diagnosed behavior or conduct problems – where a more targeted and intensive approach is taken in the program delivery.

EPIS Center is an organization committed to quality, high-fidelity delivery ­– these results show how this commitment pays off!

Summary of resultsBasic Parent Outcomes Summary (2013-2014)

Of 463 parents served, 70% attended at least 12 or more “sessions” (weekly parent classes). By the end of the class, those parents completing the groups reported many positive outcomes! 88% reported a decrease in harsh discipline, and 76% reported an increase in positive parenting.

Classroom Dinosaur School Outcome Summary (2013-2014)

526 youth were served in this prevention program targeting children ages 3-8 years old. 86% of the children completed the program. Facilitators filled out pre and post surveys and reported that 48% of the students showed decreased antisocial behavior, 51% showed improved concentration/attention, and 52% showed increased emotional competence.

Small Group Dinosaur School – Treatment Outcome Summary (2013-2014)

Of the 271 children served, 79% completed the program. Parents of the children completed pre and post tests: 76% reported decreased antisocial behavior in their child, 75% reported improved concentration/attention, and 79% reported increased emotional competence.

It is fantastic to see such wonderful results from this model organization.

An exciting new study has come out evaluating the effectiveness of the Incredible Years® Parenting Program delivered to mothers being released from incarceration. (Published Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, August 2013.)

This is a study I’ve always wanted to do and now it has been done by a Dutch team at Utrecht University. Mothers of 133 children (ages 2 to 10 years) were randomly assigned to either an Incredible Years® parent program or a no-intervention control group. Mothers in the intervention condition were offered the program in group format while in jails as well as by individual home visits to enable individual practice work after mothers were released.

The results showed significant effects on parenting and child behavior according to maternal reports. Marginally significant effects were shown for child behavior according to teacher reports. The results show the short term effectiveness for this high-risk and hard-to-reach population. It is important because a recent meta-analysis indicated that children of incarcerated mothers had about a 10% chance of increased risk for antisocial behavior compared to peers. This approach shows promise in disrupting the transmission of delinquency from delinquent mothers to their children.

This marks our FIRST Guest Post, courtesy of Incredible Years® Developer, Carolyn Webster-Stratton! Dr. Webster-Stratton has taken the time to write a summary of a new meta-analysis that has just been published, examining the effectiveness of the Incredible Years® Parent program. The full paper can be purchased online, here.

A new meta-analysis paper has just been published by a Dutch team. This review examines the effectiveness of the Incredible Years® parent training to reduce disruptive behavior and promote social competence in children. Fifty studies were conducted where the Incredible Years® parent program was compared with a comparison control group by various researchers. Findings indicate that the Incredible Years® program is successful in improving child behavior, particularly for the most severe cases, and with a diverse range of families in different contexts. The parent program is considered by this review to be well-established. These positive findings which are comparable across a range of studies may be interesting for policymakers, agencies and practitioners.
Take a look at this meta-analysis which separates prevention from treatment studies and assesses intervention, child and family characteristics, and effect sizes for different outcomes. Number of sessions attended by parents was positively related to intervention effects.
The authors write, “The Incredible Years® program might have capacity to be tailored to specific characteristics and needs of families in spite of being manualized group training. Group leaders can achieve flexible applications of the manual and help parents learn to use the parenting principles to achieve their own determined goals.”